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Dubius in fide fidelis est? Doubt and Assurance in Late Medieval Catholicism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2016

Robert N. Swanson
Robert N. Swanson*
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
*
*History Department, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

The canon law dictum that ‘dubius in fide infidelis est’ offers a seemingly definitive statement on the place of doubt and uncertainty in medieval Catholicism. Yet where Catholic teaching was open to question, doubt was inseparable from faith, not merely as its obverse but as part of the process of achieving faithfulness – the trajectory outlined by Abelard in the twelfth century. The challenge for the Church was not that doubters lacked faith, but that having tested their doubts they might end up with the wrong faith: doubt preceded assurance, one way or the other. That problem is addressed in this essay by a broad examination of the ties between faith and doubt across the late Middle Ages (from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries), arguing that uncertainty and doubt were almost unavoidable in medieval Catholicism. As the starting points in a process which could lead to heresy and despair, they also had a positive role in developing and securing orthodox faith.

Keywords

beliefChurchdoubtfaithheresyreason
Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 52: DOUBTING CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH AND DOUBT , June 2016 , pp. 186 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2016 

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